There's No Business Like Slow Business

After the holiday season, sales can be daunting, to say the least.  If you find yourself in a slump, use it to clean up your business, including your presentation. Take the time to find new clients, call customers you've been putting off, sending out a "personal" hand held earthly mailed flyer, reminding people you are here for them and what your current specials are.  Believe it or not, sometimes, you only need to offer yourself and a new angle to get new business.

Avon Calling? Anyone calling?

Do you dread cold calls?  Dread most any business calls?  Why?  It seems the reason behind cold calling is not the call, nor the person at the other end, it's you.  Not in a bad way, mind you, but in that you do not trust you know what you need to talk about. Don't worry what they think of you or that they do not want the opportunity you're offering, worry only that you know your product, service, or self inside and out.

If I was selling a car and someone called me, I'd be sweating. I don't know anything about cars! If they ask me more than how old it is, what condition the body is in, or how many miles it has, I'm not going to know and I'm going to stress about it. Heck, I'll probably start talking a lot just to cover up my obvious nerves and lack of knowledge.

Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection From Cold Calling

If I was calling someone to babysit... no problem. I know what I need, when I need it, how long I need it, what I'll pay, etc. I know everything there is to know about what I need in a babysitter and what I offer in return.

Before you call, take a deep breath and think about why you are calling. What is the purpose?  Regardless of whether the person is expecting your call, requested your call, or you're about to ask for a few minutes of their time, know why you are calling.  Then, using only a sentence, sum up the reason for the call.  Make that sentence count, get their attention and make it short and sweet.

Never Cold Call Again: Achieve Sales Greatness Without Cold Calling

If it helps, take an index card and write any points you want to make in the most basic terms so you can see it as you talk. You may end up reading it off the card and sounding a little as if you are, but the main thing is that you don't waste your time or theirs and that you do get to the point right away. 

Pause a moment so they can talk and hear what they have to say. If you don't know an answer, be honest and let them know you aren't sure, but it's a great question and you'll get back to them with the answer in the next two hours or the next day, and go from there.

If there are too many questions you cannot answer, brush up on your business and all the nuances and make the calls at another time.  You must know your business or you can't help someone else make any type of decision and of course your calling others will be more than uncomfortable.

Other than all that, what's the worst that can happen? 

Decisions...

Working from home works for me and for our family. I LOVE it.  Even though everyone here drives me nuts, and they don't take my "job" as seriously as ANY OTHER PERSON who works in our home, I'd do it again if I had to do it over.


The main struggle is self-motivation when it comes to effort.  I'm motivated, however without a "for sure at the end of the week" paycheck, I tend to feel as my family does:  it takes the back seat to pretty much everything.

It's true.  Evaluate your decisions, your time, and how you run your business.  Be honest.  Do you take hours (or days) to do something that could be done in mere moments?  Do you often set something down, knowing you'll get to it soon or later? 

Even my begging for recognition from my family can be seen as procrastinating when I'm honest (of course, it's possible--I've owned my own business since February 15, 1997--the lack of acknowledgment I never got/get that someone who leaves the house gets/got, could have come first, but I digress...).

Here's the chuckle, I realized this while working out, after having added a new extension to True Crime Fanatic (because I have so much time, I need MORE to do). I've always loved exercise and sports, therefore it really hit hard when I got COPD and couldn't do much physical because even making a bed wears me out.  It's HARD for me (but very important to us all to exercise).  That means, to workout 2 hours a day is tough.  Sometimes I want to throw in the towel because no one expects me to try hard, so why bother?  Then it hit me... as I'm running on the machine, I'm telling myself, why are you in such a hurry? What else do you have to do?

It never occurred to me that it wasn't even the pain from moving that made me antsy, call off a workout, or leave early; it's my impatience. I'm in such a hurry, to take the TIME is what was negative. I never feel like I have enough time.

Asking myself what else I had to do saved me.  Because here's my life in a nutshell:  my husband, our kids, writing, business.

And that's it!  That's all there is. Why am I in such a hurry? And that led me to wondering where all the time is going. Why am I always behind?  It's like I'm running to stand still (thanks Bono) and I've been doing it all these years. Just running and doing and never satisfied.

That moment gave me permission to finish what I started and at one "sitting" AND it allowed me to ask the same question when I need to make a cold call or I get online to research.  Call, because there is nothing else you need to be doing at this moment.  Grab the daily research list and do it because there's nothing else you need to be doing.

You see the beauty of it all, right?  Once I realized I CAN finish and nothing's going to fall apart or go missing by my doing so, I not only did "it," but I became more organized because I could finish and put it away (physically or mentally). By default, I also came up with a great new and natural attitude, which in turn, made me more productive, which is the second biggest need in running a successful business.